Random Observations

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    Stolen bulldozer buried at Texas golf course



    WEATHERFORD, Texas – A golf course in Texas had a heavy duty hazard: A bulldozer reported stolen a decade ago has been found buried under a fairway.
    The Dallas Morning News reports Thursday that investigators located the bulldozer at Canyon West Golf Course in Weatherford.


    I thought this was odd, I wonder what they stole to bury the dozer. Take along time with a shovel.

    I'll be glad when this week is over. It's spring break and the wife and I have had five of our seven grandkids visiting, plus a son this past weekend.

    I'm a person who very much enjoys solitude, peace and quiet and with five younguns in the house, you sure don't have that. The youngest (a granddaughter) is 5 and the oldest (another granddaughter) is 14. Thank goodness the oldest GD is a mother hen type and she's been much help with the younger ones.

    I'll be the first to admit that it's been much more work and frazzle for the wife than me - I just go in my bedroom, shut the door and get on the computer. lol

    De gustibus non est disputandum

    Edited once, last by Stumpy ().

    $300. an hour???????????

    I paid 15 dollars for a 10 minute haircut a couple weeks ago which gave me great annoyance, i ithought that was bad.

    Edited once, last by FarmerSteve ().

    Quote from FarmerSteve

    I paid 15 dollars for 10 minute haircut a couple weeks ago which gave me great annoyance, i ithought that was bad.



    During my first tour in Germany ('59-'62), we had an old German barber in the barracks who charged 35 cents for a haircut. Ah, for the good old days. :tongue:

    De gustibus non est disputandum

    I paid 2 dollars in Turkey 4 or 5 years ago and i think 7 or 8 in Germany about that time. They were 6 bucks when i was a kid for along time. Im bout ready to buy a set of clippers and just give myself GI haircuts if they get any higher in town.

    Quote from FarmerSteve

    Im bout ready to buy a set of clippers and just give myself GI haircuts if they get any higher in town.


    Already done that. Went and bought clippers half a year ago. The wife cuts mine now, close with a #2. I loved my hair longer years ago, but now I keep it short.


    Mark

    "I couldn't go to sleep at night if the director didn't call 'cut'. "

    Long ago and far away, in a land that time forgot,
    Before the days of Dylan, or the dawn of Camelot.

    There lived a race of innocents, and they were you and me,

    For Ike was in the White House in that land where we were born,
    Where navels stood for oranges, and Peyton Place was porn.

    We learned to gut a muffler, we washed our hair at dawn,
    We spread our crinolines to dry in circles on the lawn.

    We longed for love and romance, and waited for our Prince,
    Eddie Fisher married Liz, and no one's seen him since.

    We danced to 'Little Darlin,' and sang to 'Stagger Lee'
    And cried for Buddy Holly in the Land That Made Me, Me.

    Only girls wore earrings then, and 3 was one too many,
    And only boys wore flat-top cuts, except for Jean McKinney.

    Never in our wildest dreams did we expect to see
    A boy named George with Lipstick, in the Land That Made Me, Me.

    We fell for Frankie Avalon, Annette was oh so nice,
    And when they made a movie, they never made it twice.

    We didn't have a Star Trek Five, or Psycho Two and Three,
    Or Rocky-Rambo Twenty in the Land That Made Me, Me.

    Miss Kitty had a heart of gold, and Chester had a limp,
    And Reagan was a Democrat whose co-star was a chimp.

    We had a Mr. Wizard, but not a Mr. T,
    And Oprah couldn't talk yet, in the Land That Made Me, Me.

    We had our share of heroes, we never thought they'd go,
    At least not Bobby Darin, or Marilyn Monroe.

    For youth was still eternal, and life was yet to be,
    And Elvis was forever in the Land That Made Me, Me.

    We'd never seen a band that was Grateful to be Dead,
    Airplanes weren't named Jefferson , and Zeppelins were not Led.

    Beatles lived in gardens then, and Monkees lived in trees,
    Madonna was a virgin in the Land That Made Me, Me.

    We'd never heard of microwaves, or telephones in cars,
    And babies might be bottle-fed, but they weren't grown in jars.

    Pumping iron got wrinkles out, and 'gay' meant fancy-free,
    And dorms were never co-ed in the Land That Made Me, Me.

    We hadn't seen enough of jets to talk about the lag,
    And microchips were what was left at the bottom of the bag.

    Hardware was a box of nails, and bytes came from a flea,
    And rocket ships were fiction in the Land That Made Me, Me.

    Buicks came with portholes, and sideshows came with freaks,
    And bathing suits came big enough to cover both your cheeks.

    Coke came just in bottles, and skirts below the knee,
    And Castro came to power near the Land That Made Me, Me.

    We had no Crest with Fluoride, we had no Hill Street Blues,

    We had no patterned pantyhose or Lipton herbal tea
    Or prime-time ads for condoms in the Land That Made Me, Me.

    There were no Golden Arches, no Perrier to chill,
    And fish were not called Wanda, and cats were not called Bill.

    Middle-aged was 35 and old was forty-three,
    And ancient were our parents in the Land That Made Me, Me.

    But all things have a season or so we've heard them say,
    And now instead of Maybelline we swear by Retin-A.

    They send us invitations to join AARP,
    We've come a long way, baby, from the Land That Made Me, Me.

    So now we face a brave new world in slightly larger jeans,
    And wonder why they're using smaller print in magazines.

    And we tell our children's children of the way it used to be,
    Long ago and far away in the Land That Made Me, Me.

    De gustibus non est disputandum

    I wasnt of that era Stumpy but sure wish I could have been. Anyone that was I envy you. Always seemed like better times and better class of people came from your guy's era. Wish America was still that way. Find myself saying similar things of even the difference between now and 15 years ago. They call what we are doing progress, but i cant see it. Days of self employment, economical recovery in one business seems to me even in my time to have recessed. I remember growing up in Nebraska counting farm houses, used to be one per quarter section, then it bacame 1 per half section. Now seldom there is not even one on a whole section. So many people are buried in debt, greatly of their own doings, for things that make them look successful when in fact they spend all there success on appearance. You folks count yourself fortunate to have been able to enjoy some of Americas finest years.

    Quote from FarmerSteve

    I wasnt of that era Stumpy but sure wish I could have been. Anyone that was I envy you. Always seemed like better times and better class of people came from your guy's era. Wish America was still that way. Find myself saying similar things of even the difference between now and 15 years ago. They call what we are doing progress, but i cant see it. Days of self employment, economical recovery in one business seems to me even in my time to have recessed. I remember growing up in Nebraska counting farm houses, used to be one per quarter section, then it bacame 1 per half section. Now seldom there is not even one on a whole section. So many people are buried in debt, greatly of their own doings, for things that make them look successful when in fact they spend all there success on appearance. You folks count yourself fortunate to have been able to enjoy some of Americas finest years.



    I call the Fifties the "Golden Decade", Steve, because some of my fondest memories are of those years. Even the Forties weren't all that bad, at least for me, because I was too young to have fought in WW2 (or Korea either, for that matter). I spent my most impressionable years with maternal grandparents on an oil lease in southern Oklahoma. My grandpa bought me a gentle old mare and I roamed at will over thousands of acres. (There were very few fences in the area where we lived).

    I lived a Tom Sawyer-like existence - except for school and a few chores my grandparents assigned, I was free as the breeze. My grandparents were poor as church mice (an outhouse, natural gas & mantle lights, no water heater) but they would never even have considered asking for handouts like the welfare crowd does today.

    Considering their economic situation, you'd almost have bet money they were strong Democrats but you'd have been wrong. (I don't think they were Republicans either because I cannot recall them ever discussing politics.) I just know they were very conservative and apparently I absorbed that conservatism without even realizing it.

    Back then about the only contact we ever had with feds of any kind was when our rural postal carrier delievered the mail. It was a wonderful, much simpler life. How I miss that America,

    De gustibus non est disputandum

    I was fortunate in my own way to have grown up in more modernized years even with old values. My dad would work twice as hard to pay a loan or do work on the side before he accept outside assistance or farm programs. I did my chores before and after school which was a reasonable distanced bus ride. I milked a cow, fed bucket calves, pitched hay by hand, old fashioned loose stacked hay. Somehow i always found time to strap a fishing pole to my bikes handlebars and ride it 2 miles to the river to go fishing almost every night. In the fall and winter I went hunting and i walked for miles and miles. During summer vacation i worked, now there are some that say that a kid shouldnt work thats child labor, but i disagree. I seldom went to town or wanted to go to town. I feel that i am all the better for the things. I am glad to have had a taste of the simpler life and i live a simple life now as i can. Someday when i have kids I will raise them the same and to heck with progress. They wont have cell phones, or watch Tv or play video games. They ll be as i was outdoors and to some extint productive.

    This isn't really Western, or Duke, but it is definitely a random observation. Enjoy!

    CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE

    1930's 1940's, 50's, 60's and early 70's !


    First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.
    They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.


    Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.


    We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.


    As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.


    We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.


    Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds , KFC, Subway or Taco Bell.


    Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!


    We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this..


    We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gobstoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs with.
    We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......


    WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!


    We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.


    No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.


    We would spend hours building our go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars.


    We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY ,
    No video/DVD films,
    No mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!



    We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
    Lawsuits from these accidents.



    Only girls had pierced ears!



    We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.



    You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time...



    We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays,



    We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

    Mom didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!



    Football and Baseball had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on
    MERIT



    Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes and bully's always ruled the playground at school.





    The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
    They actually sided with the law!



    Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kaitlin' and 'Tucker' and ''Shabiqua'.


    We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO
    DEAL WITH IT ALL !




    And YOU are one of them!
    CONGRATULATIONS!


    You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.


    And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    "Monseur, you are a LuLu!" (The Comancheros)

    Edited once, last by Duke_Wayne ().

    I grew up in a brand new "subdivision" with young families and they all had two or three kids. We were outside from daylight to sundown, just as stated, and if you heard dad whistling for you, gosh darn you were late and you best get your behind home. I remember playing kick the can, all the neighborhood boys would get scraps of wood from their dads and construct the biggest, most terrifying looking bike ramps on the planet and take turns one by one jumping - basically to see who would survive the landing, I remember hearing the ice cream truck pull into the neighborhood and the excruciatingly long wait for it to get to our house, the spur of the moment theatrical performances me and my little friends would put on for the moms on the street, having a picnic in the front yard, 15 to 20 kids standing at the top of the hill laughing, falling down and rolling like logs down the side of the hill and letting the mayhem ensue.


    OMG! Those were the best days ever! :teeth_smile:

    "I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on."